fancy surprise outing
Finally, they had arrived at Sirius’ planned destination.
“The kitchens?” Remus raised an eyebrow at the smiling boy in front of him. “And you made this sound like some fancy, surprise outing. Was the blazer even necessary?!” He said the last thing with as much melodrama as he could.
Sirius just rolled his eyes and grabbed Remus’ hand for the third time that night, pulling him through the doorway. Not that Remus minded, he rather liked holding Sirius’ hand. He would find excuses as often as possible to do just that and was quite glad for not having to make these excuses tonight.
As they walked through the large entryway, the thirty or-so house-elves turned to look at the two, rather disheveled, boys.
“Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin!” One of the more familiar-looking elves began, walking towards them and waving for the others to return to their work. “Nice to see you both. How may we assist you tonight?”
“Hello Helena,” Sirius smiled down at her. Helena was used to the Marauders barging in late at night asking for snacks to help them stay up later or left-overs from meals they had missed setting up pranks. She was especially fond of Sirius since he would often come down during Remus’ recoveries when he couldn’t attend meals and would always be extra friendly. “Nice to see you as well. Now you see, my dear Moony and I may have fallen asleep studying and missed dinner, is there any chance you would whip us up a small picnic so that we don’t go to bed hungry?”
He put on his best puppy dog eyes to try and convince her. Sirius was also quite the charming liar, always had been. One of the few things still ingrained in him from childhood, like his swirly, perfect handwriting. Things that came with being the heir to the House of Black, no matter how little he wanted the position. It sometimes left Remus wondering if he had ever been manipulated by Sirius’ lies when they were younger before Remus could read his Padfoot like a book. Then again, he never lied to Remus now, so why would he have lied to him then? He shook the thought from his mind, slightly angry with himself for thinking of Sirius as a Black and not as a Marauder. It happened much less than when they first met, but sometimes it slipped away from him, always leaving Remus with an intense feeling of guilt.
He’s not his family.
Not at all.
“Moons?”
Shit. Sirius was talking to you, you idiot, and you just stood there. Now he’ll know something’s up. Shit, shit, shit.
Remus turned his head to the right, towards Sirius, who had a slightly concerned look on his face.
“Sorry, got lost in thought. What did you say?”
“Hey, you alright?” Sirius ignored his question. His eyebrows were squished together, just a tad, leaving small wrinkle lines between them.
He always did that when he was focusing or worried. Without thinking, Remus reached up and smoothed them out with his thumb.
WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING REMUS?!
He quickly pulled his hand away, realizing what he had done.
“Sorry,” He mumbled, looking down quickly at the yellowed-white tiles underneath his feet.
Sirius squeezed his hand, making the werewolf look back up at him. He just smiled softly, pulling Remus into a hug. His arms wrapped around the taller boy’s waist. Remus leaned into the touch, pulling his own arms around Padfoot’s neck, pressing his face into the dark, wavy hair that always smelled like mint.
“You never need to apologize to me, Rem. For anything.” His voice was muffled by Remus’ shoulder pressing against his mouth.
“Promise?” He whispered the little joke they both shared into the shorter boy’s hair. Except it wasn’t really a joke. It had started off that way but quickly became something they always said to comfort the other. Before fulls, tests, leaving for the summer, through nightmares and panic attacks, everything. And they always kept their promises to one another.
“Pinky promise, Moons.” He whispered the appropriate reply back. Remus squeezed him a little tighter as if to solidify it somehow.
“Ahem,” Helena’s squeaky voice appeared at their side again. They pulled apart quickly at the arrival of the house-elf, and Remus tried to hide his blush for the second time that night. “Here you boys are. Enjoy the rest of your night.”
Remus smiled down at her as Sirius took the large basket she was holding. “Thank you, Helena, have a wonderful night.”
“You as well Mr. Lupin. Goodnight Mr. Black.”
“Night!” They chorused cheerfully as they left the kitchens. Right before opening the door though, Sirius stopped and reached one hand out towards Remus holding up his pinky finger.
"Come on. It's tradition."
Remus smiled, reaching his own hand up and snaking his own pinky around the other, never breaking away from the grey-blue eyes.
Once their hands broke apart, Sirius spun around, almost dropping the basket, and pushed the door open for Remus.
Remus began to walk back in the direction of the tower until he heard Sirius' loud voice behind him. He had turned a corner in the other direction.
“Oi, Moony! Come on! This way.”
“What? Sirius, the tower is that way. Are you sure you didn’t hit your head on that fall?”
“Oh, hardy-har. What a comedian Moons, really.” He just flashed a lopsided smile at the other boy. “I promised you a, what did you call it? Oh! A ‘fancy surprise outing’ and that I shall provide. Now come on!”
He dragged the last word out in a sort of whine and jumped up and down a bit in excitement when Remus finally started in his direction again.
Wow, he really is a dog.
They rushed through more hallways until they finally reached the large, arched doorway by the great hall that led out behind the school.
“Sirius, what are you doing? If we get caught, this is going to be a month's detention. At least.” Remus pulled lightly on the shoulder of his companion, not enough to make him fall, but just enough to make Sirius turn to look at him.
He smiled his trademark mischief smile. “Oh, Moony, stop worrying. That’s only if we get caught.” With that, he pushed the doors open and was pulling Remus by the hand, once again, towards a mystery destination. After exiting the building, though, it quickly became clear where they were headed.
“Sirius, no!” Remus begged but made no effort to pull away. “Come on, don’t be stupid. There is no way someone won’t see us.”
Padfoot just ignored him and continued towards the quidditch pitch.
He was pulled through the doors near the bottom and up through the series of benches and staircases until they finally stopped at the commentator's platform.
“Sirius really, you’re such an idiot. You’re going to get us caught, and for what? Why are we even up here?”
“Would you just shut your pretty mouth for one second and look?”
Remus obeyed with a sigh and looked out at the area surrounding him.
The platform was a three-meter by three-meter square and was near the top of the pitch, so the commentator could see everything that was going on in the game. Remus was up here often, given he was the commentator, but never at night. Something about being up there at that time felt wrong, but he quickly realized it was in the best sort of way. Unnatural but beautiful all the same. If he turned a bit, he could see most of the castle. There were soft lights coming from scattered windows, giving the whole castle a glowy effect. On his other side, he could faintly see the scenery and hills of the area surrounding the massive castle, but it was blurred from the fog as well as the darkness blanketing over it all. He could really see everything from up there. Hagrid’s hut, the greenhouses, into the forbidden forest, the outskirts of Hogsmeade and the Shack, the lake, the tree all of the Marauders lounged under when they had time off from classes, everything. It was beautiful. Even more so, shrouded in the ethereal beauty of the night, only slightly lit by candles and lamps scattered across the grounds.
“Wow,” He hadn’t meant to say it, and it was only a whisper escaping from his lips.
“See?” Remus turned and saw the slightly smug and lopsided smile the animagus was displaying. “So, was it worth it Mr. ‘we’re going to get caught, stop being such an idiot Sirius’?”
Remus just looked back out across the pitch and leaned against one of the railings.
“You suck at impressions, Pads.”
He received a light shove on the shoulder in response. Sirius walked a bit closer and leaned on the railing in the same way so that their shoulders were pressed together. It reminded Remus of the nights they spent studying in the common room. Sirius always looked so beautiful in the firelight, with all the shadows dancing across his pale, aristocratic features.
Ignoring the little voice in the back of his head telling him not to, Remus leaned his head on the other boy’s shoulder. Quickly, Padfoot leaned his own head down to rest on top of Remus’.
That’s where they stayed, leaning on each other, staring out into the night.